Kuzbass

I. General Information

It was founded on the 26th of January 1943. Kuzbass is located in the Russian Federation, in the south-east of West Siberia. It borders on the Altai territory in the south-west, on Novosibirsk region in the west, on the Tomsk region in the north, on Krasnoyarsk territory in the east. The population is more than 3 mln. people. 87% of the total population is city inhabitants.

The Kemerovo region can be divided into two parts, the hills and plains, which are called together the Kuznetsk basin. This basin reminds a rectangle. If we take a look at the map we will see that the green colour of forests covers practically the whole area along the right bank of the Tom river. Siberian taiga is mainly in the north of the region. The pride of our dense forests is the Siberian cedar, a majestic tree that grows 30-40 meters high. It can live 400-500 years though such trees quite few. The pine trees live on islands along the Tom. Among the dense taiga of Shoria we meet a particular Siberian tree - the lime tree. There is the so-called "lime tree island" in Kuzedeevo. Scientists say that this island is thousand years old.

Though the territory of Kuzbass is small the climate differences are considerable. The climate in the mountains is humid and comparatively cold. The climate in the rest parts of the region is continental. An average winter in Kuzbass lasts 5 months, summer - 3 months.

The wild animal life differs depending on the variety of nature and landscape. The most common inhabitants are brown bears, the elk "Sokhati", the sable, foxes, wolves, etc.

II. History and people.

By the February of 1722 Mikhailo Volkov made his discovery of iron ore, found in the Tomsk region and coal, found in the "burning hill" not far from the fortress Verhotomsk on the right bank of the river Tom. Now this place is on the territory of Kemerovo near the old bridge connecting the banks of the Tom. Now there is a monument to Volkov in Kemerovo. This discovery played an important role in the fate of Kuzbass.

Peter Chikhachev, a well-known Russian geographer was astonished by the amount of coal hidden in this land. He made the first map of the basin and suggested the name "Kuzbass" meaning the Kuznetsk coal basin.

In the first decade of the 20th century a coal share holding company (Kopicuz) was organised. Most of the shares belonged to the French capital.

The further development of the region is connected with the metallurgical enterprises. The Kuznetsk combinat was built in the thirties of the 20th century.

During the first years of the Great Patriotic War many machine-building enterprises were brought to our territory from the European part of the USSR. Kuzbass had become one of the most important regions of the USSR in 1941-1945. That’s why it was separated from the Novosibirsk region in 1943 into a special region.

III. Modern picture of Kuzbass life.

Today our region is the most developed industrial regions in Russia. It is famous for its coal-mining and metallurgical industries. They say that the first strike of miners in 1989 made Kuzbass one of the main political centres of our country. The political activity of trade unions has grown recently.

Our region is living in difficult situation now as all the other parts of Russia. But rich in gifted people, rich in natural resources, rich in a variety of industries Kuzbass will raise from rains and get prosperity.